Yesterday I went with some of the other DMP people taking the "Understanding Social Deviants" module to the highpoint halfway house in geylang. (mistakenly called 'highway' a few times haha) It was a basically a christian place for drug-addicts and criminals to go after they were released from prison, to help them reintegrate into society. I really learnt quite a lot, not on those academic stuff, but a lot into the minds of these 'social deviants'.

Through the past few lessons, we all understood that there is usually a set of norms that we all have to comply with in a society, without which the society would become disorderly and even fall into chaos. And so with this, there will be a group of people who do not follow these norms. These people will then be punished by the negative sanctions and so on. But what is it that made them the way they are? Is it the rest of the society? or are they born like this?

Returning to the trip, we got some presentations about what the halfway house does, like they actually go to the prisons and help the people inside through conducting church services and advising them to come to the halfway house on their release to help them enter society again, as it is easy for them, who on their release has lost their loved ones- family and proper friends, to go back into their old ways. When they are in the house itself, they help by putting them on a course, which includes a lot of counselling, teaching them how to lead a healthy lifestyle, new work skills, social skills, monitoring them, and even citizen responsibility and helping them to regain the trust of their loved ones and return to their families.

We also watched some videos by the Central Nacotics Bureau, I would say not the usual that we watch cause one was quite wierd as it was animated, and then the other one was acted out, but really quite real and slightly scary? They were both just telling you that drugs are bad and that you have a choice- whether you want to lead a good life, or lose your life to drugs. Then was the touching part, where the people share their stories with us. I could tell that they really lost a huge part of their lifes...most of them were in prison for about 20+years...thats even more than how much I have lived... Yea and they started sharing with us their feelings and what they went through...Like how they mixed with the wrong people and how they fell into the trap, which really costed them. Some thought that it was macho? and that they could stop anytime they wanted to. They were wrong. And it was just one mistake. Even after the prison stay, like what I mentioned, without anyone to 'anchor' them, it was easy for them to find the old gang again and the same thing happened. Many of them went in and out of prison like this, each sentence being harsher than the past. Until they found this halfway house, where their lives were changed. They said that being there gave them some form of hope, that they can someday return to society and stand proud again. Which those that shared eventually did and made some use of their life, by achieving something for themselves.

Then I finally understood, that the halfway house is called a halfway house because it is halfway into re-entering the society. And on our way back, Ms Goh highlighted something interesting to us, that we have actually helped those people who have shared with us, because them sharing their stories with us, will have a therapeutic effect on them, allowing them to realise that their experiences are of some use to the society, to educate, to share, and to warn.

Note: I think Cold turkey is to describe the effects someone will experience when the person gives up drugs, like the withdrawal effects. The person will be placed in an air-con room and left there for a while to cool down, reflect and to think. It kind of makes the person more comfortable and soothes the person.